I migrated from SQL Developer 3.xxx to 4.0. My queries no longer show column headings. I have looked through "preferences" and have not found the answer. I have tried SQL commands that work in SQL*Plus.

What am I missing? How do I get my column headings back in the output?

In the worksheet, run the following and see if you have either heading off or pagesize 0

show all

Either of those settings will suppress column headings, just as in SQL*Plus. Perhaps you have a connection startup script defined in Tools > Preferences > Database initializing the session in one of those ways.

Result of "show all" include pagesize -1 and linesize -1. Also serveroutput is OFF.

There is no startup script in Tools/ Preferences/ Database. The list must be the "factory settings." Is there a way to change the default setting for pagesize and linesize? I have tried "set pagesize 999" in my session, but even for the session there is no response from the database. Also, I would think that serveroutput should be ON. I am pretty much a newbie at SQL and SQL Developer and I am clueless about this problem. (But I definitely need my column headings!!)

Ah, sorry! I forgot the rule is a bit more complicated than stated in my first post. Pagesize 0 and heading off suppress the column headings. In addition (from some discussion notes)...

In SQLDeveloper we decided to have the LINESIZE and PAGESIZE set to -1 by default so the table gets printed without any restrictions on dimensions (LINESIZE & PAGESIZE). Yes the labels columns won't print for PAGESIZE = -1 and LINESIZE > 0 and no indentation for data.

In SQLPlus we can't set pagesize -1, but when we set the PAGESIZE = 0 and LINESIZE > 0 the labels won't print but the line indentation results will be same in

SQLDeveloper.

So, for your case, make sure to leave heading on and both pagesize and linesize either at their default setting of -1, or both set greater than 0. If you wish to set them automatically to non-default values, then in ...

Tools > Preferences > Database (remember to expand Database, then click on it so it has the focus) > Filename for connection startup script

provide a file specification to a script containing any such SET statements. Similar in concept to SQL*Plus checking for the existence of a login.sql script.

Do you have a suggestion for linesize? I work in Oracle Applications, not development. I am usually querying for a very small set of data. I just made a guess, but I wonder what the setting might have been from SQL Developer 3.x.x.x, for example.

Gary or another sql dev rep will need to speak to which of those sql plus settings are supported by sql developer. Gary already mentioned a couple that are different and he told you where you specify the file name you are using in the preferences panel.

As rp0428 notes, SQL Developer does not support all SQL*Plus settings, although support tends to improve from version to version. You can check the product help for more information for any given version: